Oil Prices Jump After Easter Holiday

After sliding the previous week, oil prices managed to edge higher a day after the Easter as most of the market players hoped for the cooperation of the major oil producers to the output freeze on their meeting on April 17.

Brent crude futures changed hands at $40.53 per barrel, an increase of 9 cents while the U.S. crude’s front-month contract climbed to 20 cents to trade at $39.66 per barrel.

Despite the current surge in oil prices, most of the experts still believed that the global glut supply will weigh on the commodity in the long run, capping its gains. However, the downbeat U.S. oil output and the positive U.S. gasoline demand keep the oil prices steady.

The Organization   of the  Petroleum Exporting Countries will have a meeting in Doha, Qatar on April 17 and only 10 countries have agreed to grace the event at the time of writing. A senior oil and gas analyst shared that the conference of the OPEC members and non-members must bring something to address the unresolved issue of global glut or else the recent gains of the commodity will vanish instantly.

Based on the recent data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, crude oil inventories reached 9.4 million barrels to 532.5 million barrels the previous week.

For the week, the American Petroleum Institute will report its weekly data on U.S. oil supplies on Tuesday as the United States is on set to disclose its private sector data on consumer confidence. On the same day, Federal Reserve Chairwoman will deliver a speech at the Economic Club  of New York.

On the other hand, the U.S. Energy Information will also report the data on weekly oil supplies on Wednesday while the United Kingdom will show its data on fourth quarter growth together with current account and net lending on Wednesday.

Investors are expected to be watchful on the  U.S. stockpile and on the newest supply and demand signals for the week.